Sam, our WarmShowers host, is a big coffee fan. He made Maddie a delicious cup using a vacuum coffee maker. After that we were ready to hit the road. Sam is a biker himself, so he led us out of the city, and he led us at a fast pace. He brought us about 8 miles out before he departed, leaving us on a beautiful paved trail that would take us to Dayton.
We made a quick pit stop at Amy’s Donuts for a maple crumb donut and a strawberry cheesecake... and then an old fashioned cinnamon sugar for good measure. We have been eating so many sweets on this trip, which is ok because we burn thousands of calories every day. Still, my throat and stomach have been balking at sweets recently, so I’m trying to cut back.
We rode the Ohio-Erie trail southwest to Xenia for about 50 miles. It was flat, it was straight, and it was beautifully paved. We were making great time. Our bodies are really starting to figure out this cycling thing. We’ve both noted how much stronger we feel, how are necks and backs and butt and quads don’t ache nearly as much as they did at the start of the trip. It’s starting to feel natural in the saddle.
Of course, nothing ever goes perfectly according to plan. When I was younger, at every basketball camp they’d say “you’ve gotta be comfortable being uncomfortable.” Or even better “you’ve gotta get uncomfortable being comfortable.” I feel like I’ve hit that point. When a day is going too well, it feels strange. Like something is off.
Today our only setback was a bit of rain! It wasn’t even too chilly. Our hands and feet got a bit soggy, and Maddie’s rain jacket leaves something to be desired, but all in all we were happy and warm. Is that all you’ve got, Mother Nature???
Just outside of Xenia we stumbled across an event. All we could make out was a racetrack, which is becoming more and more common of a sighting, along with spectators. We decided to take a detour and check out what was going on. We rolled our bikes up to the fence and peered in at the track. It was a racetrack, but not the typical large oval. It was more of a circle, and there were sections of pavement crossing through the center. Toppled cones laid strewn about the track. We asked around, and it turned out they were restarting the event after some type of delay. While we were speaking cars were rolling out and populating the starting area. Probably 30 cars were lined up in pairs of twos. They all looked like regular cars on the outside: a pickup truck, some sedans, mostly smaller, sportier cars. After a spell the event began. The cars went two at a time, drifting around the track. Some of the cars came within inches of slamming the side wall. They would drift for 6-8 seconds at a time, tires screeching as they turned more than 90 degrees. We later learned that the event was Drift Indy’s drifting competition. We never did figure out how the runs were judged, but it was cool to watch.
We arrived in Dayton at our new friend Brian’s house. He and his roommates graciously offered to host us for the evening. We dropped off our stuff and checked out the area around University of Dayton. Brown St is right off of campus, and it’s got every style of food imaginable, most of the options being chains. We settled on an Asian place called Ginger and Spice, and it was delicious, though they weren’t kidding about the “Spice” in their name. Maddie’s face was bright red after eating her spicy tofu curry.
After a quick stop at Coldstone for Coffee Lover’s Delight (obviously not trying to cut back on the sweets too hard), we returned to Brian’s place. We watched The Polar Express, which Maddie has been dying to see for a week now, then chatted with Brian and his friends Angela, Jordan and Jack, well into the night. We learned a lot about Dayton and some of their unique quirks! We’ve been so lucky getting to stay with some awesome people the last few nights.
Our relationship with Ohio started off rocky, with some insane hills and a couple of flats. But now that it’s time to leave I just might miss it. It’s the first state we’ll have been in for 5 consecutive days. We’ve been coming into our own in Ohio, feeling much more confident. Ohio’s been good to us, with good people, good riding, good food, and good times. Next stop, Indiana.
-Charlie